What does the Bible say about caring for the elderly?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible calls God’s people to honor, protect, and provide for the elderly, especially within their own families, as an expression of faith and love. Leviticus 19:32 commands respect for the aged, while Exodus 20:12 and Proverbs 23:22 uphold honoring parents throughout life. First Timothy 5:4, 8 teaches that children and grandchildren should care for needy relatives, and the church should treat older men and women with familial dignity, as 1 Timothy 5:1-2 explains. Jesus modeled such care by entrusting His mother to John in John 19:26-27. Yet God Himself remains the refuge of those in old age, as Psalm 71:9 declares.
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- 1 Timothy 5:8
But if anyone doesn't provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.
- Leviticus 19:32
You shall rise up before the gray head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.
- Psalms 71:9
Don't reject me in my old age. Don't forsake me when my strength fails.
- 1 Timothy 5:1-2
[1] Don't rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers; [2] the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity.
- Exodus 20:12
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- 1 Timothy 5:4
But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety towards their own family, and to repay their parents, for this is acceptable in the sight of God.
- Proverbs 23:22
Listen to your father who gave you life, And don't despise your mother when she is old.
- Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- John 19:26-27
[26] Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!" [27] Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
- Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do well. Seek justice, Relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, Plead for the widow."
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